I sit on a garden wall in the front yard of the dead artist Guayasumin and around me are beautifully placed plants amidst walkways, a mix of green and white. The breathtaking view of little toy buildings that fade into the distance falls steeply before my feet. Quito, Ecuador’s capitol, swims in the basin…

09 July, 2013

I rest on the edge of a school courtyard wall. It appears ready to crumble, as if my weight were actually centering the worn bricks and pinning them together less they slide apart like Jenga blocks. The other, less fortunate walls lay fallen in the aged courtyard, scattered by time. Below my perch rest the cabbages, carrots, lettuce, and…

07 April, 2013

Life can get tough but I try not to let it get me down. What I mean is that life can’t put you down as long as you choose how to view it. I must admit however that it is really hard to deal with life when I can’t talk to someone about it. Living in Ecuador…

04 January, 2013

Symbols are good at filling the mind and preventing an open flow of perception. The most powerful ones nestle deep in my head and distort the way I experience the world. Home is a very powerful symbol. It is subjective but I feel forced to adapt or to struggle with the concept and how it makes me feel.  I…

07 September, 2012

When I first saw Global Citizen Year’s advertisement publicizing the opportunity to take a gap year between high school and college I had two options: click the ad and discover that it was just another scam, or ignore it and save myself from certain disappointment. Although it wasn’t obvious to me at the time, I’m…

10 July, 2012